


Love Like This

by wander_without_purpose



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bad Luck, Cussing, F/M, Identity Reveal, Kwami Swap, Major Character Injury, Rooftops, hurt Marinette, sad Adrien, shy adrien, the curse of the cat miraculous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 11:12:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13569390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wander_without_purpose/pseuds/wander_without_purpose
Summary: Ever since she acquired the Le Chat Noir miraculous, Marintette’s bouts of bad luck continued to multiply. As the daughter of a baker and his wife, living in 21st century Paris, this led to countless accidents in and out of the kitchen. Her klutziness in school also went up exponentially, especially in front of her best friends, Alya, Nino, and Adrien. Adrien couldn’t string together a proper sentence around her, and that frustrated her but she did her best to be as kind as she could be. If her partner wasn’t such an amazing human being, maybe she would have more than just friendly feelings towards Adrien. As it was, she had a huge crush on her counterpart, Le Coccinelle, and any romantic thought of Adrien fled her mind as her partner swooped in yet again to save the day.





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> Okay guys, I was looking for more kwami swap on AO3 and there were only 5.. it made me sad so I figured, “Oh! I’ll just write some!” And the story took off from there. I really like the thought of Adrien as Ladybug and Marinette as Chat, I feel like their everyday lives lend to these counterparts really well. Marinette has a baton, Adrien has a yo-yo. Marinette has the ring, Adrien has the earrings (yes they’re pierced.) This is a crush swap as well, Marinette has a huge crush on Le Coccinelle, cue the flirting and endless puns, and Adrien has one on Marinette, hence the inability to form full sentences around her as well as the endless blushing. He’s exasperated with Noir, and she calls him ‘Prince’ when he’s Adrien and she’s Chat, and M’Lord or bugaboo when he’s Le Coccinelle. He calls her Kitty or Minou, but when he’s really upset he calls her Noire. Below is their transformed states, as well as every day. THIS IS ALSO AN AGED UP FIC. Young adults, sophomores in University so I WILL HAVE THEM DRESS ACCORDINGLY. (I’ll try to stick to french culture when it comes to their outfits.) This is not a life swap. Adrien is still a model, lost his mom a year before, and his dad became Hawkmoth. Marinette has bakers for parents, lives in her attic room, and commutes to school. Adrien has just started school at her university and they share their core classes, but Marinette is a designer while Adrien is going for his business degree at his dad’s insistence, even though he loves physics, linguistics, and cooking/baking.  
> \---  
> Marinette: light blue, loose button down shirt, rolled up sleeves, thin white stripes, grey blazer over on cold days; loose denim capris, small rips at the knees, black belt and light wash; silver miraculous ring, turns black with neon blue paw; dark bandanna holding up hair in a bun, across forehead bangs, when transformed hair is loose and fluffy; cat earrings; thin chained monogram necklace, silver; thin, braided chord bracelet, khaki; thumb ring, thin banded silver; small black purse, contains Plagg and cheese; ‘vans’; dark blue scarf
> 
> Adrien: leather jacket over a scooped dark, loose, maroon T-shirt on warm days; dark maroon scarf on cold days; blonde, wavy hair pulled into a small ponytail at base of head with wisps coming down over the forehead, when transformed becomes longer and is tied with a long red ribbon, also messier; dark denim capris with a dark belt; ‘vans’; dark messenger bag with Tikki and cookies; black circular earrings, when transformed red with black spots; thin chain with dog tags with his mom’s name on one and his dad’s name on the other; thick, silver ring on his pointer finger with a black stone

Marinette fiddled with her necklace as she dashed around the building with her math class in it. 

“Of course you would get the earliest class available for class.” Her kwami, Plagg, growled in her ear. “Although, I guess that’s because you’re-“

“Hush!” Marinette hissed at him. “Someone might hear my bag talking, again! The security officers already tried to confiscate you, you know?” She growled at the memory when he rolled his eyes and yawned. “Keep quiet. I found the room.” She opened the class door and stepped inside, making out the heads of Marinette’s best friend, Alya, and her boyfriend, Nino. Alya was dressed in combat boots, dark jeans, and a sweater since it was fall and she didn’t enjoy the cold. Nino was in baggy jeans, a hat, his usual glasses that somehow matched with Alya’s, as well as a light over coat on his plain black shirt. 

Marinette’s other friend, Adrien, was with them, dressed true to his modeling career. She waved and made her way over to them, taking in and appreciating the amount of light that filtered into the classroom from the sunrise. She was too distracted to notice a bag in the middle of the isle, and she tripped, sprawling across Adrien’s lap with a yelp. “Fuck.” Mari muttered, looking up at him with an embarrassed face. /well. If he wasn’t scared of me before, he probably is angry at me now./ “Sorry, Adrien.” She said with a grimace. “I’m such a klutz.” She tried to push herself up from his lap when Alya grabbed her arm and dragged her up, laughing. Marinette noticed Nino was grinning at his friend, and she saw Adrien’s face was a bright scarlet. 

“N-no Marinette p-problem, I-I mean, it no w-was problem, shit!” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes in frustration. “I-it’s no problem, Marinette. T-the b-bag was in th-the way.”  
Marinette giggled. He was so cute when he was flustered. “Still, I’m a klutz.” She took her seat without further incident, sticking her hand into her bag to pet Plag behind his ears and make up for falling with him in tow.The class passed quickly, but she had a hard time focusing. Marinette was sketching her partner, Le Coccinelle, in her sketchbook instead of taking notes when Alya tapped her shoulder.

“Time to go, Mari!” She winked at me. “I’ve got free time until after lunch, wanna hang? I’m sure you’ve got some new dude e-“ A scream interrupted her sentence and Marinette sighed. /Akuma/ She thought to herself bitterly. The day had barely started and Hawkmoth decided to be an early riser.

“Bourgeois!” A deep voice echoed through the entire campus, shaking the glass in the room

“Never mind gotta run!” Alya whipped out her phone and ran towards the noise, with Nino following close behind. Adrien had disappear, and Marinette was the only one left in the classroom. She opened her bag, glaring at the little black demi-god of destruction. 

“Plagg! Transforme-moi!” 

“Do I really have t-“ was all he got out before he disappeared into Marinette’s ring, changing her from Marinette Dupain-Cheng to Le Chat Noir.


	2. That Was My Mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here come the puns, doo doo doo doo~

Chat Noir opened the window to the classroom and vaulted herself into the middle of the greens on campus where Coccinelle was holding off an Akumatized victim, who seemed to be turning people into different animals.

“M’lord!” Chat waved, drawing the attention of both him and the Akuma he had engaged himself in a stand off with. The girl was dressed in a shiny, skin tight suit that reflected little rainbows of light while her hair was cut in a feathery bob, highlighted with the colors of the rainbow. Coccinelle was dashingly handsome as always, dressed in his skin tight suit that alternated between black swatches of material and the classic ladybug spots. His red mask with those same tell-tale marks framed his moss green eyes and made them pop, his unruly hair tied back with a bright red ribbon. 

“What took you so long, Minou?” He grunted, dodging a swing from the as of yet unnamed villain who was wielding a compact as well as a staff.

The aforementioned villain focused her attention on Chat, knowing that the way to end this quickly was to go after the kitty. “I am Mirror! No one can escape their true selves, and you, Chat Noir, must give me your miraculous! I’ve already turned the Bourgeois girl into a bee, like that annoying bitch deserved. All i need to do now is-” 

Chat cut her off. “Blah blah blah, for a piece of glass you sure are talk-y aren’t you? I guess Chloe’s stinging remarks left a few bruises.” She taunted.

‘Mirror’ charged at her and Chat took a stance, extending her baton into a staff and sweeping Mirror off her feet, laughing to herself. “Is your true self a broom? Because I just swept the floor with you.” Chat singsonged then smirked, bounding over to Coccinelle while Mirror struggled to get up. Strangely it didn’t seem as if this Akuma was skilled in fighting, yet Coccinelle hadn’t finished her off yet. “Bonjour, Bugaboo. Know where the Akuma is hiding?” She winked at him, but faced Mirror again, as she was starting to get up.

“Lucky Charm!” Coccinelle’s power gave him a red scarf with black polk-a-dots. He looked at it strangely then began to look around. “Your puns were absolutely horrible, Kitty. And, she’s holding a purple compact. I’m guessing that’s where-“ He was so preoccupied searching for things to do with the random scarf when Chat Noir saw a beam of light head towards him. 

“Watch out!” Chat flung herself in front of him, startling him, and blinked in surprise when she opened her eyes again. Chat didn’t feel very different, but looking down she yowled and jumped off the ground which was suddenly a lot closer than Chat Noir had grown to expect. She tried to speak but ‘meow’ was all she could get out. Chat had black and indigo fur covering her from the tops of her ears to the end of her tail, as well as glowing blue eyes that rivaled a calico’s. 

Coccinelle was trying really hard not to laugh but he was failing. “Awe, such a cute kitty cat.” He cooed and picked Chat Noir up. “Got yourself in quite the ‘purr’dicament, huh kitty?” He chuckled to himself. “Can you still use cataclysm?” He tied the scarf around her stomach, ignoring her hiss of contempt.

“Stupid girl!” Papillion hissed into Mirror’s ears. “You should have taken Chat Noir’s miraculous when you had the chance! Do not fail me with Coccinelle’s, or there will be consequences. Don’t forget, you. Owe. Me.” 

“Y-yes Papillon! I won’t fail!” Mirror readied herself to steal Coccinelle’s miraculous, fear radiating off of her form.

Chat nodded her head at Coccinelle’s question, knowing that Plagg had told her that it was possible in the past and she was only slightly distracted by the purple butterfly outline that had been on the akuma’s face seconds earlier. “Okay, I’m going to throw you at her.” Chat’s ears pressed against her head and she hissed at him in disbelief, disregarding the exchange that seemed to have happened between Papillon and Mirror. /i guess the bug really does hate me. Jeesh!/ “Just use cataclysm on her compact and I’ll take care of the rest.” He scratched under her chin, making her purr, so that she could be thrown without clawing his arms to shreds. /He touched me he touched me ahhh! M’Lord pet me!/ Chat Noir lost concentration and then he threw her. She yowled the whole time, but remember what she had to do. /Cataclysm!/ Chat meowed fiercely and destroyed Mirror’s compact once she got close. However, Chat slammed into the ground once Mirror swatted her as the villain’s instincts of self preservation kicked in, hearing a crack in one of her front limbs. She whimpered in pain, waiting for Coccinelle to finish Mirror off. Mirror frantically lunged for Coccinelle’s earrings before he could catch the purple butterfly that had caused so much trouble, but failed and fell to the ground as he preformed the cleansing ritual and threw his lucky charm in the air after carefully untangling the scarf from Chat’s body. 

Once Chat finally heard a “Miraculous Coccinelle!” The pain in her injured limb was beginning to dim her vision. She was suddenly her normal size and her arm was in perfect condition yet again. However, Chat tripped over her feet trying to stand up and slammed right into Coccinelle, accidentally kissing his cheek. She righted herself as quickly as possible and stumbled away from her crush.

“I guess I just can’t help falling for you, m’lord!” Chat Noir giggled nervously but stood up properly and brushed herself off, her ring beeping three times. She sighed. “Well, gotta run bugaboo, see you tomorrow for patrol!” Ignoring the fist he held out for their usual ritual, she waved and ran before he could say anything, vaulting herself onto the rooftops and jumping from roof to roof quickly a deep red blush warming her cheeks, leaving a very confused Coccinelle behind to deal with the press.


	3. Won’t Last Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blood, broken things, and clumsy Marinette.

Chat hit a slick spot as she scampered over roof tops towards her home and fell, yelping in surprise. She hit another roof, that was a few feet lower, hard, and hissed in pain. She had landed directly on top of a planter with her side and shattered the ceramic that was much harder and sharper than she was used to. “Shit!” She pushed herself up, ignoring the stabbing sensation she felt near her ribs and just ran the rest of the way home after lowering herself to the streets carefully. Chat vaulted herself onto her balcony, biting her lip and drawing more blood before sliding the hatch into her room open and falling into her bed. The transformation left Marinette, and she was hit with an intense wave of pain as the blood from the injury soaked into her shirt. Mari cursed.

“It’s so hard to get blood out of this shirt.” She complained weakly, sliding out of the bed and getting dizzy. She braced herself against the side of the bed and winced, but then realized a certain black cat god hadn’t started to buzz around her and demand his usual meal. “Plagg?” Marinette looked for her kwami but he was nowhere to be found. She frowned and tried to take a few steps and then collapsed to the ground, causing a fresh wave of both pain and blood to emerge from her wounded torso. /They’re either broken, i have a big gash in my side, or it’s just a small scrape and I’m overreacting. I’ll prefer the third one, though with my luck it’s likely two as well as one!/ 

Plagg had felt the ribs of his kitten break through her skin and knew that if she didn’t get help, she would lose too much blood. Her parents were currently on vacation in China, and his only other option was to go to Coccinelle: Tikki’s wielder. Plagg knew that it would compromise his kitten’s identity, but it had to be done. When the Chat Noir transformation dropped, he darted through Marinette’s roof hatch, determined to get his kitten some help.

He raced toward’s Tikki’s energy source and found himself outside a large mansion. He spotted Tikki munching on cookies and phased through the window. “Tikki!!” He flew right into her and she squeaked. He was frantic.

“Plagg! Wait, what are you doing here??” She dragged him to a hiding spot while Adrien was in the shower. Plagg was panting and looked exhausted. He also had a little bit of blood on his head from where he had brushed past Marrinette’s wound. 

“My kitten, Tikki. That stupid kid! She’s bleeding so much, I need Coccinelle’s help, please!” He began babbling about how he couldn’t lose another kitten and that this particular one was his favorite when Adrien stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed. 

“Tikki?” He called out wearily, not seeing her with her cookies. “What’s going on?” 

Before Tikki could protest, Plagg shot out of his hiding spot after wrenching his arm away fromTikki and grabbed Adrien’s face. “You have to help my kitten!” He shouted, absolutely frantic. “It took me 10 minutes to find you, and she’s bleeding on the floor in her room!” 

“Whoa whoa whoa, little cat, kitten? Wait, you’re a kwami. Has something happened to Chat?” He gingerly pulled the distressed god of destruction away from his face and waited for an explanation, doubt clouding his features.

Plagg began purring in distress. “Please, please, my kitten needs help!” He began tugging on Adrien’s finger. “Help me Tikki!” She flew to them and nodded.

“Chat Noir is in trouble, Adrien. Please help her? Plagg is never this frantic unless it’s serious.” Tikki asked him softly, waiting for his nod of affirmation before continuing. “Don’t go as Coccinelle, just go as Adrien. You’ll be able to help her. But you need to leave with Plagg now.” She snuggled deep into his scarf and Plagg sighed in relief, darting out the window. Adrien groaned but followed. /What’s that stupid cat gotten herself into now? Damn it Noir!/  
—  
Marinette was quickly losing consciousness, the only thing she was aware of was that all the blood flowing out of her side was subsequently soaking into her floor that she had just cleaned from her last bout of bad luck with a particularly nasty razor blade and her leg. /damn. I like this floor, and this shirt. Stupid luck. Where are you, Plagg? Please be okay./ 

“Kitten? Kitten??” Plagg hovered over his wielded and tried to get her to open her eyes. “Marinette!” He tugged her hair and tried to wake her up by biting her finger but nothing worked. 

Adrien’s eyes widened when he saw that his kitty was Marinette, but ignored his shock. He immediately dropped to his knees and tore her shirt open, wincing when he saw the wounds. “Plagg, where does she keep her first aid kit?” 

“A-Adrien?” Marinette’s eyes opened slightly and she started coughing, he could see her holding back a scream of pain as a whimper passed through her lips. 

“Shh, kitty, don’t move. You’re side has a gash in it, and I think your rib is broken.” He frowned, strolling off his shirt and pressing it firmly against her wound. He was careful not to disturb her rib too much, but his priority was to staunch the bleeding. “First aid kit, Plagg!”

The little kwami had gone to grab the bag and came out from her dresser with a black purse clutched tightly in his tiny paws. He dragged it over to Adrien, who was whispering softly to Marinette. “Here. Help her, please.” The black god of destruction was scooped into a hug by Tikki, and subsequently taken out of sight.

Adrien grabbed cotton wipes and hydrogen peroxide to clean her wound and removed the shirt from Marinette’s side. “I really should take you to the hospital.” He murmured, cleaning the area as gently and quickly as humanly possible.

“Oh, yeah.” Marinette’s voice was weak yet sarcastic. “Explaining that would be fun. ‘Oh I was just hopping from roof to roof in the middle of the day as Chat Noir and fell onto another roof. Subsequently, I walked home and collapsed.’ I mean, can you imagine the headlines??” Adrien stayed quiet and grabbed a needle and some thread to close the gash, also putting gauze, a thick pad, and more hydrogen peroxide on standby as she talked. “‘Chat Noir outed by roof top jumping gone wrong!’ Fuck, I could just see Alya’s reaction!” She let out another whimper as she jostled her rib. 

“Do you have anything to numb the pain, kitty?” Adrien ignored her rant, sterilizing the needle and threading it. 

Marinette shook her head but closed her eyes. “Just don’t hesitate, please. The in between is the most painful. I would do it myself, I’m sorry Plagg disturbed you, m’lord.” She whispered. It was obvious now that Adrien was Coccinelle, no one else would’ve been trusted by Plagg to stitch her up. That cat was very protective of his kits, no matter how unaffected he might pretend to be.  
Adrien winced at the nickname, but then began to stitch her up quickly and efficiently. She hadn’t moved a muscle the entire time he had been closing her wound, and he took the time to clean the skin around the now closed injury carefully. When she still didn’t move, he looked up at her and cursed. “Kitty.” He stroked her cheek, waiting for her to open her eyes. “Marinette? Damn it!” Adrien took her pulse, feeling her heart beat slowly and steadily under his fingertips. He sighed in relief and stood up shakily, stretching his legs before they fell asleep and washing the blood, his kitty’s blood, off his hands. He turned the water off and gripped the sides of the sink in his hands, closing his eyes to take a breath. 

Adrien listened to Marinette breathe, syncing his lungs with hers and letting the tension roll out of his body. She would be okay. He dragged himself back to her side and placed the woven cotton pad over his carefully made sutures, holding it in place and wrapped gauze around her midsections, doing his best not to disturb her already broken ribs. Adrien lifted his kitty carefully and placed her on her bed, resting her on her back before climbing on top as well. He wedged himself in a corner, sitting cross legged to take up the least amount of room possible before leaning against the wall.  
“Très merci, Marinette. I can’t believe I didn’t see it earlier, and I’m so glad that you’re both the girl I admire in school and also my partner and best friend I trust with my life, Minou.” Adrien whispered and moved her bangs out of her eyes gently. 

A soft purr reached his ears and he chuckled, smiling fondly down at his love. 

The piece of time they had carved out was doomed to fade. Good things don’t last forever, after all.


End file.
